Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran

The fact that John McCain once sang “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran” to the tune of the 1960s hit Barbara Ann came up again at tonight’s presidential debate. Whatever one makes of this fact, it should be noted that McCain and much of the media have been guilty of perpetuating a pop-cultural misunderstanding in connection with it.

When McCain originally sang those lines on the campaign trail in 2007, (here’s a YouTube clip), he introduced them as “that old Beach Boys song.” Reporters, pundits and others have typically described the incident as McCain parodying a Beach Boys song.

But while the Beach Boys recorded a popular version of Barbara Ann in 1965, the original version was recorded by a group called the Regents and charted in 1961.